Lando Norris Not Keen on Visiting Max Verstappen’s Home Race in Zandvoort Despite McLaren’s ‘Improvements’

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Although Lando Norris has competed in five full F1 seasons, he still has not managed to win a race. The Briton has finished on the podium 14 times but never on the top step. However, with McLaren steadily improving the pace of the MCL38, many experts believe that the 24-year-old can register his first win this year. Even though Norris himself is happy about the steps McLaren is taking, there is one track that he still dreads visiting. That is Zandvoort, the track of Max Verstappen’s home Grand Prix.

As quoted by Autosport, Norris said, “I want to believe that we maybe have a slightly better all-round package, but I don’t think we’ve visited some tracks yet where we’ve seen as many weaknesses, like Zandvoort, for example. Not looking forward to it! And a couple of tracks that really show where the car is weak”.

One of the key weaknesses that the MCL38 faces is in navigating low-speed corners. According to p1travel.com, six of the 14 corners of the Zandvoort track are low-speed. It is perhaps for the same reason that Norris fears visiting this circuit this season.

On the other hand, someone like Verstappen would hope to race at Zandvoort as soon as possible. Verstappen’s absolutely adored by the fans of his home race as the supporters light up the track with orange flares.

However, since Norris is half-Belgian, many of his supporters also travel across the border to Zandvoort to support him. While the Briton seems to have written off the possibility of having a good race at the Dutch GP, he is confident of having better races elsewhere.

Lando Norris believes McLaren is in a “good position”

During the same interview, Lando Norris explained how McLaren‘s recent improvement helps put a smile on his face. While he believes that his side have a long way to go before they can begin challenging for wins, he yet believes they are in a “good position” when compared to last year.

Norris, who has already managed to register a podium finish this year, was languishing at the back of the grid at the same time last season. With that in mind, he explained in the same interview, “If you think back to 12 months ago, it was still a very, very different situation to be in. We’ve out-developed our competitors since this time last year by a huge step“.

After hailing his side for the way they have improved, Norris revealed that he’s most impressed with Ferrari. The Briton believes that the Prancing Horse have taken the biggest step forward by far this year.

Since McLaren still does not seem to be at the same level as Ferrari or Red Bull at the moment, Norris is hopeful that he can fight for wins in 2025 if not this year.